The present invention relates to the provision of apparatus for testing for leakage, either through an opening or by permeation, in a composite package which is defined as a semi-rigid container body, deriving its strength principally from one or more cylindrically wound fibreboard plies or laminations thereof, and having closures attached to one or both ends thereof to contain a product. The apparatus of the present invention can be used to test the entire package, not just the body or closures.
The composite packages are generally random tested by subjecting the interior of the package to a pressure less than ambient and then exposing the exterior of the package to an inert gas, such as helium, for example, and connecting the interior of the package to apparatus responsive to the gas by leakage thereof into the package, and measuring such leakage.